The Record Keepers
by Icabu
Summary: My very first Emergency! fanfiction...from April 1999. Hard to believe that was nearly 20 yrs ago! Just a short to test the waters way back when.


The Record Keepers

Lucy sipped her morning coffee while engrossed in the newspaper. Soon enough the couriers would be bringing carts of records to be filed after the morning rounds. Requests for records were already filtering down from the Emergency Department. Records Keeping were located in the basement bowels of Rampart General. It was a vital, but slightly boring, job to keep the mounds of paperwork filed with the appropriate patients.

Lucy heard the door open and the rattling wheels on the courier's cart coming down the hallway. She put the paper down and gulped the rest of her morning coffee. Time to get started.

"Good morning, Jack," Lucy said to the courier pushing the paper laden cart.

"Morning." He parked the cart near the racks of filing cabinets. He noticed the newspaper lying on Lucy's desk and picked it up. "Did you read about the big fire last night?" He finally found the right page, folding the paper around the intended article.

Lucy took the folded paper and read the article, whistling at the photo that accompanied the article. "That was a big one. Says here that several firefighters were hurt. Were they brought here?"

"Yeah. I heard some of the staff talking about it this morning. A couple of them were hurt pretty bad."

"That's too bad. Am I going to need your help?"

"Yeah. I figured that you would guess that." They both had a morbid laugh.

"I'll get started. You go ahead and get a cup of coffee until I get to those files," Lucy instructed.

"Okay. Thanks."

"Alvarez, Juan. Cardiac," Lucy mumbled as she filed Mr. Alvarez's records.

"Ashton, Gregory. Tib fracture." She had to create a new file for this patient.

"Carlson, Mary. Appendectomy." Another new patient file to created.

"DeSoto, Roy. Lacerations and contusions, smoke inhalation." Lucy opened a fairly hefty file and slipped in the additional pages, then returned the file to the cabinet.

Jack caught her struggling with the firefighter's file. "Do you need a hand with that, Lucy?"

"No, but thanks. I'll need your help in a minute though."

"Ready when you are," Jack grinned at her.

"Francis, Jody. Laceration." This was a repeat customer.

"Okay, Jack, here we go. Can you get the handcart and bring the cabinet labeled '1974 – '. I think there is enough room left in there for all of this. It should be easier to bring the cabinet over here."

"Sure, Lucy."

Lucy heard Jack grunting as he wrestled with the overloaded cabinet. As he parked the cabinet next to Lucy's desk, he stopped to mop beads of sweat off his forehead.

"Some of these are in duplicate. Those need to be cross-filed by body part. Are you ready?"

"Fire away."

"Gage, John. Concussion." She handed him two papers. "Don't forget to cross-file those."

"Right-o," he answered, wrestling with overstuffed file folders.

"Gage, John. Fractured left clavicle. Cross-file." She handed over two more sheets of paper.

"Gage, John. Left shoulder separation." A single paper was passed.

"Gage, John. Fractured ribs. Cross-file." Two more pages passed.

"Gage, John. Lacerated liver. Cross-file again."

"Hold on a minute, Lucy. The rib file is pretty tight."

Lucy came over to give a hand or two.

"Thanks, Lucy. Now this liver is a cross-file, too, right?"

"Yep. Need a hand?"

"Let me see…nope, got it. Next."

"Gage, John. Punctured left lung. Make sure you get that in the left lung file, there is a file for each lung."

"Got it."

"Gage, John. Bruised left kidney. Again, make sure this is the left kidney file."

"Right-o, er… left-o, got it."

"Gage, John. Fractured left tib-fib. Cross-file this with the general left leg file."

"I think I need your help again with this one."

They both struggled with the brimming file, finally squeezing in the additional papers.

"Almost done, this one is lacerations and contusions. No cross-file."

"No way is this going to fit. Have you started a new laceration file?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. I'll go back and get it." She returned with a new file, already nearly full. "Here you go," Lucy said as she dropped the file on the desk with a thud.

Jack slipped the additional pages inside. The folder barely closed around the mass of paper.

"And the last one is smoke inhalation."

"Okay, that does it then. I'll just wheel this cabinet back in the corner room."

"Thanks for all your help, Jack."

Jack returned, mopping his brow again. "No problem. See you after rounds this afternoon."

"Yeah. Hey, Jack!" Lucy called, before he made it all the way down the hall.

"What?"

"Get an update on these guys for me this afternoon. I'd like to know how they're doing."

"Sure. Everyone is talking about them, I should be able to snoop some info for you."

"Thanks, see ya." Lucy returned to the much lighter courier cart. She only knew these guys by paperwork, but she still found that she cared about them.

She picked up the next sheets. "Harris, Mary. OB." She was a repeat customer.

"Jenkins, James. Fractured left radius," another new patient file to create.

"Kelly, Chester. Separated right shoulder." This file was thicker than most, too.

And the filing continues …


End file.
